Richard Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch
Richard Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch and 12th Duke of Queensberry KT, KBE, DL (born 14 February 1954) is the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, as well as Chief of Clan Scott. He is the senior patrilinear descendant of Sir James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth (9 April 1649 – 15 July 1685), the eldest son of King Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter.
Richard Scott was born in 1954, the son of John Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (later 9th Duke of Buccleuch). When he was baptised, Princess Margaret was one of his godparents. In 1981, he married Lady Elizabeth Marian Frances Kerr, a daughter of the 12th Marquess of Lothian
He attended Eton and was a Page of Honour to the Queen Mother from 1967 to 1969. In 1973 his father inherited the Dukedoms of Buccleuch and Queensberry, and Scott took the courtesy title of Earl of Dalkeith. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts.
In 1981 he married Lady Elizabeth Marian Frances Kerr, a daughter of the 12th Marquess of Lothian (and a sister of the 13th Marquess of Lothian, better known as the Conservative politician Michael Ancram), and they later had four children:
•Lady Louisa Jane Therese Montagu Douglas Scott (b. 1 October 1982)
•Walter John Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (b. 2 August 1984)
•Lord Charles David Peter Montagu Douglas Scott (b. 20 April 1987)
•Lady Amabel Clare Alice Montagu Douglas Scott (b. 23 June 1992).
On 4 September 2007 he inherited the titles Duke of Buccleuch and Duke of Queensberry upon his father's death.
The family seats are Bowhill House, three miles outside Selkirk, representing the Scott line; Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, representing the Douglas line; and Boughton House in Northamptonshire, England, representing the Montagu line. These three houses are still lived in by the family and are also open to the public. The family also owns Dalkeith Palace in Midlothian, which is let, and has owned several other country houses and castles in the past.
Art Collection
The art collection of the Dukes of Buccleuch is of great significance; thus the recovery of the Leonardo da Vinci painting Madonna of the Yarnwinder (see graphic) stolen from the collection, valued at 30 million GBP, in a raid on the offices of a prestigious law firm, captured public attention in 2007. A discovery in June 2008 of a painting in the family collection at Boughton House - a rare portrait of the young Elizabeth I Queen of England - was welcomed by art historians.
Knight of the Thistle
His Grace Sir Richard Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, KBE. FSA FRSE Duke of Buccleuch And Queensberry was appointed as a Knight of The Most Ancient And Most Noble Order Of The Thistle (KT) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year Honours List published at the end of 2017. He is the 9th successive Duke of Buccleuch to be made a Knight of the Thistle, starting with the 2nd Duke of Buccleuch in 1725.
Unlike many of the honours awarded on these occasions, the Knight of the Thistle is granted personally by the monarch without any input from government officials. The origin of the chivalric order is not certain, but it was reintroduced by King James VII in 1687. The knights (and, since 1911, Ladies of the Thistle) number no more than 16 plus the monarch. They are appointed for life, unless they resign. They have a plaque with their names fixed to the seats in the Thstle Chapel inside St Giles in Edinbrgh. These are never removed.
